The Afternoon Walk
by LinleyHamilton123
Summary: "Oh, what is it?" she asked, wondering why he wasn't in the castle studying away for his O.W.Ls. "Nothing," Neville said quickly. "I just saw you from Gryffindor Tower and thought you might be lonely or-or something."


**Disclaimer:** I do not own Harry Potter, Luna, Neville, the giant squid, or anything else of any concern.

This is my first Neville/Luna story! It's mostly friendship kinda, but I mean I've always lived them together and it's not really the first thing I wrote because my unfinished, unpublished next chapter to _Fairy Lights: Stories of the Yule Ball _was about her and him in a way. So yeah!

Here it is!

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Luna Lovegood walked silently across the grounds of Hogwarts, her blonde hair brushing against her cheeks. It was so peaceful there, everyone else trapped inside studying for exams and who knew what else.

She should be studying too, she knew, but she could not resist the brightening spring air, and she doubted one afternoon would be life changing to a fourth-year. Maybe to all the older kids, that were taking their O. and had breaks and tons of homework, but not to her. They thought she was silly and young, but at least she could take an afternoon to go for walk without worrying about her future or something.

"Luna," someone said from behind her, startling her from her thoughts. It was a calm voice, but still she was greatly surprised. Spinning around, she saw it was Neville.

"Oh, what is it?" she asked, wondering why he wasn't in the castle studying away for his O. .

"Nothing," Neville said quickly. "I just saw you from Gryffindor Tower and thought you might be lonely or-or something."

Luna paused. She supposed it was just some way about her, but she never did get lonely when she went for walks by herself. She didn't get lonely often, if ever. Now that she was in Dumbledore's Army, she didn't even feel friendless or alone anymore.

"No," she said slowly. "I guess I just don't get lonely. I feel like I have friends now, you see. With the DA," she explained.

Neville looked uncomfortable for some reason. She thought it was peculiar that if she said the simple truth, people had a way of being uncomfortable. Sometimes people could just be so strange. "Yeah," Neville said finally. Then, as if he was making an effort to change the subject, he said, "Would you like to walk with me?"

Luna was surprised, but thought it was might be nice all the same. "Oh, yes," Luna said, smiling. "We can go to the lake. I haven't seen the giant squid in a while."

Neville looked surprised as they began to walk. "Seen it? What so you mean? It's not hard to miss."

Luna shook her head patiently. "No, Neville, I mean talked to him. He's very gentle, you know. You just have to see him."

"Does he talk back?" Neville sounded kind of puzzled, but not exactly amused. This was nice, because Luna knew many people thought she was silly and stupid and many other things not even that kind.

"No," Luna said thoughtfully, "but I sort of understand him. You'll see. He'll be out today, I think. It's so sunny."

She was right. As the two approached the black lake, Luna ran carefully up to the bank. Glancing up at Neville, she patted the tentacles of the large, rather gentle creature. "Neville!" she called, wondering why he wasn't hurrying. "Won't you come?"

Neville shrugged and approached the squid very slowly. "Brilliant, Luna," he said in a not-very-honest sort of voice. "Um, do you know when the DA is meeting next?"

Luna allowed the change of subject as she patted the squid. "No," she said, "but Harry will change his coin. Don't you trust him? I most definitely do."

"'Course I do," Neville said, sounding embarrassed. "I was curious is all. But I really hate to say, I ought to go study."

He did sound sorry. "For my O. ," he explained.

She smiled. She'd know already that's whet he's meant. "Of course," she said. "I do hope they are all right."

Neville grinned. "Thanks. See you later."

He started off to castle, but Luna patted the giant squid once more and ran after him. "Wait!" she called gracefully. "I can walk with you."

He grabbed her hand and they hurried back into the castle. It was just a walk, but Luna liked walking with someone else. Somehow, though she liked being alone, she wondered if just maybe, walking by herself was lonely, in a way. As she skipped along with Neville, she smiled privately to herself.

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Did you like it? I hope so! Please review!

If you have read stories by me before, then you're used to that routine! I kinda want to start a new one about something different though (that one will stay, don't worry...!). I already said this once, and I'd like to say it again:

This story was written on an iPhone. Auto-correct jumps in at odd times and can mess up spelling and whole words. I apologise so many times over about it if there's a mistake because of this, but I can't really fix it because half the time I don't notice. So please don't review commenting because I know!

Linley =)


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